Christian Cortes

Early winter dusting above Tucson. 🌨️ #photography #Arizona #landscape

Who needs clouds? Arizona has its sunset game on lock.

Seems like my corner of the music industry is finally making it onto BlueSky. Interested to see where this goes…

How’s it going over here in Bluesky land? Would love a new platform for photography sharing. Instagram is properly ruined (Threads still OK but just a matter of time before ads ruin it too) and Twitter is… X.

Fall photo strolls through upper Manhattan… I’ve got to hand it to that city - they got their park situation on lock!

Considering how mandatory Instagram has become for photographers (and anyone in visual media), one would think rapid adoption of HDR to be a natural move for Meta at least. But alas, the lack of healthy competition (compounded with the ongoing focus on 15-sec videos) may de-incentivize investment…

It has been exciting to discover so much extra information embedded my RAW files, and no doubt the user-side tech will eventually catch up. For now though, it just feels like a tease!

The tide will undoubtedly turn once social media platforms begin to support HDR (in all its formats) consistently.

Here’s a look at the amount of information that’s visible in the HDR image but missing from the photo viewed on 90% of screens and applications (just an underexposed photo of my Lightroom Develop screen).

Wishing software would catch up with hardware and support HDR. This photo pops so much better when you can actually see the HDR edits… Dammit Lightroom, the world just isn’t ready for your fancy new features!

I’m bitter about having this awesome new tool and so few places to share the things I make with it. If a significant portion of native apps can’t see it (including most things on my XDR display Mac), and neither can social media, what’s the point?

Well thank you for the kind feedback and critical insight - it’s nice to get something other than “likes” and emojis in response to something every once in a while!

I adore coffee and this episode of Tim Ferris’s podcast featuring Dr. Mark Plotkin that delves deep into the history of coffee just makes me love it more. I know coffee is contentious but never appreciated its role in religion and geopolitics, and perhaps even the evolution of humankind. ☕️

Shot on Ilford HP5 film on a Nikon FM2. God I’m glad I kept this camera all these years.

My high school photography teacher usually balked at photos of “pretty things,” arguing that they were a distraction from the other elements that made a photo great — composition, tonal range, focus, and the “story” within the image. I see his points now, but I still do love a pretty thing.

Here’s a couple more film captures from Arcosanti, the architectural oddity of Arizona.

Shot just before lockdown during a team-building meeting with my June Jam crew… Little did we know how much our world was about to be upended.

This is Leon. He was the guardian of Arcosanti for many years, and a majestic creature who gave no fucks. He once interrupted Fred Armisen during at set at FORM.

Rest in peace Leon. Thanks for letting me take your picture.

I remember adoring this book when I was in college. Classic sci-fi was literature and grappled with real ideas that most modern sci-fi just can’t scrape. I love a good space opera but let’s be honest - that’s just pulp and rarely introduces new ideas. The greats already did it half a century ago.

The majority of my early film shooting was on FP4 but that was before digital really took over. I think now, almost 2 decades later, the resurgence of film in part stems for the pursuit of something wholly different than what digital can do. Hence why something grainy with good depth is appealing.

I said FP4 but I meant HP5 😶😬

A brief moment of appreciation for the tonal depth of Ilford HP5.

Grand Canyon in Silver #3

It honestly amazed me how many people were descending into the canyon for a day hike with little to no water. It was March and there was still snow in the shadows, but out here was warm and exposed. Did they know they still had to hike back up?

Grand Canyon in Silver #2

Captures from my first roll of film in 14 years (at the time of shooting). I missed this vibe… No amount of digital editing can recreate the emotional range of B&W film photography.

📷: Nikon FM2 @ 50mm
🎞️: Ilford FP4

March 2020

Grand Canyon in Silver #1

📷: Nikon FM2, 50mm

March 2020

I don’t always do selfies, but when I do, it’s because I’m trying to finish a roll of film before I take it to get developed after sitting in my camera for 3 years. 😅

Well, Twitter/X is just ads and echo chambers now, and Threads was a failure the moment they tied it to Instagram… Let’s see if this is any different. 🔍